The children giggled, and the preacher's lips twitched.
He turned quickly to Mary.
“Wilt thou have this Man to thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”
With quick, clear voice, Mary answered:
“I will.”
“Please join your right hands and repeat after me:”
He fixed Jim with his gaze and spoke with deliberation, clause by clause:
“I, James, take thee, Mary, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.”
Jim's throat at first was husky with fear, but he caught each clause with quick precision and repeated them without a hitch.
He smiled and congratulated himself: “I got ye that time, old cull!”